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Gratitude The Olivet Way!

Pastors Owen and Ngozi Nlekwuwa on the red carpet during the Pastors Appreciation Day Celebration

Tell every youth that a good work will
always be rewarded in one way or another---Pastor Owen.

Deep love and gratitude was at the heart of the
worship!

The Olivet Bible Church decided to set aside March 30,
as a special day to appreciate Pastors Owen and Ngozi Nlekwuwa and Pastor
Iyke Ogunna.

They have worked selflessly and decided to run a
‘people race’ where every member of the Church is built with enduring qualities
for growth.

During the event, Pastor Owen was overtaken by endless
surprises. From the ‘Red Carpet’ reception given to every guest, to the short
multimedia clips of very memorable moments of his life, he was eager to find
out the ‘who’ behind all the doing.

For all that Olivet cared, Pastor Owen deserved every
love that was expressed toward him.The
testimonies abound, especially in his mentoring of the youths.

Beyond the
lively youth gathering for worship, Pastor Own has built into the thought
stream of every youth, a passionate hunger for value and creativity. It is
his open- secret and it has been yielding fruits!

A cross section of the pastors during the Olivet Bible Church Pastors Appreciation Day

He believes strongly that the growth of the nation is
closely tied to the Church.But Pastor
Owen believes that the Church has majored in very minor things for too long.

“The Church
is God’s agent of transformation to society. So, when our impact is not
transforming society by changing lives, one person at a time, then something is
missing, something is not right somewhere,” he says.

He wants the
Church to take on its key role in transforming Nigeria today. He says, “Every
revolution or civilisation always came as a form of revival in Churches.”

Pastor Owen believes that if it is difficult to change
the ideologies of the aging generation of people, then it is high time young
people were helped to create ideologies that would truly build legacies for the
nation in future.

The children's presentation in dance

Prof. Vin Anigbogu sharing the word

Vision:
Recipe for National Transformation

Prof. Vincent
Anigbogu, the Director-General, Institute For National Transformation,is also a
serving Pastor and a member of the Governing Council, Elizade University,
Nigeria.

As guest
minister at the Olivet bible Church celebration programme, Anigbogu identified
the need for a clear vision as crucial recipe for national growth.

“A nation
cannot move forward if the vision of their future is not clear,” he said.

He noted that
with a clear vision, keyed into by everybody, people, irrespective of their positions
in society, would become better and would be able to contribute meaningfully to
the development of the nation.

“We can then
begin to look at the critical things we need to do; whether infrastructure,
academic or government institutions; we have to do those things and be our best
in pursuing them.”

He noted that
only selfless and humble people could build a nation and not those who are self-centered. According to him, “self-centered people cannot build anything.
When put in the position of leadership, they only care about themselves.”

Anigbogu
advocates that the Nigerian youths must be helped to see the future and made to
understand that they have a share of it and equipping them with the skills they
need.

Making
reference to Isaiah 58, Anigbogu urged the Church not to only pray, but to also
develop programmes to help the youthsdiscover their talents and guide them towards meaningful engage, so that
they may have a fruitful future. He called it part of the job description of
the Church.

Prof.Anigbogu
also noted that the recent Economic Summit recommended that there should be a
major policy change to restructure the nation’s education system, to help the
younger generation understand what it requires to develop the future.

He said that
ultimately, Nigerians needed to be matured and learn to tolerate one another.
He also called for a fair and equitable justice system, where when people
steal, they are punished and when they commit evil, they know they will go to
jail.